More than 2 tons of drugs seized since the beginning of 2002

In all in the course of operations called Channel since the beginning of 2002, law enforcers have seized more than 2 tons of drugs and exposed more than 3,000 crimes involving drug-trafficking, the Russian interior ministry's Chief Department for Combating Drug-trafficking, or the GUBNON, said on Tuesday.

In the period between January and September, the GUBNON conducted 10 operations to expose and cut off channels of supplying drugs to the territory of Russia. The operations were conducted jointly with the law enforcing authorities of Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.

In the course of the same operations, they seized about 700 pieces of firearms and cold steel weapons, and stocks of materials and smuggled goods worth a total of about 380,000 dollars.

There were also two special operations on the Tajik-Afghan border (the bulk of Afghan-made drugs come to Russia via the territory of Tajikistan). The operations netted more than 120 kg of drug-containing substances, including 100 kg of heroin and 5 kg of hashish, which would otherwise have been smuggled onto the Russian territory.